Best Bourbons

A Comparative Tasting of the Country's Best Bourbons

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A Comparative Tasting of the Country's Best Bourbons

During last year's Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, CO, I spotted a bourbon bar filled with many fine bourbons of which I had never had the opportunity to try. Without hesitation, I plopped myself down and made friends with the bartender. The conditions were a little rough: the sun was in my eyes; I drank out of a wine glass; I kept falling out of my bar stool trying to capture the perfect angle of each bottle with my cumbersome camera. Ultimately, though, the liquid gold was worth it. Keep reading to see tasting notes, favorites, and some cocktail suggestions.

Hey all! I was not paid to promote Hudson. I was at a food festival, and this was the group of bourbons available at a bourbon bar. In case you are wondering, this is what milk punch is: http://www.popsugar.com/food/B...

It's a Southern holiday tradition since the 1800s and quite delicious!

13 weeks

Rosco, let me help you out and correct you on a few things. There are a number of federal requirements a spirit needs to meet in order to legally call itself a bourbon. Being made in Kentucky is not one of them, although it's not hard to see why you might think so, what with the historical association and the fact that a lot of the best and certainly the majority of the most well-known bourbons come from KY. Craft distillers are popping up all over the US though, and there are some good ones coming out of Colorado (Breckenridge), Cali (St. George), Arkansas (Rock Town), and almost every other state. You'd probably be surprised how many bourbons, claiming anywhere and everywhere in the US as production locations, are all distilled at the same facility in Indiana.

Also, from what I've read, Cleveland Bourbon is not aged chemically at all but rather through some process including pressure and agitation. Age is not a determining factor in whether or not a whiskey meets the "definition" of bourbon (unless we're talking straight bourbon).

Finally, it's pretty goofy to think that the author was paid to promote Hudson. I'm sure Tuthilltown is doing just fine emptying the wallets of hipsters willing to pay 40+ bucks for a half-bottle of two year old bourbon (and it is bourbon). If you need to find the two small things to criticize the author for, then call her out for her inclusion of Basil Hayden's and putting Weller 12 in something called "milk punch," which I imagine to be a grosser-sounding egg nog.

17 weeks

It's not Bourbon unless it's made in Kentucky,that is the definition of Bourbon,no matter how much you were paid off to endorse Hudsons Bay,there are also two so called in Cleveland that are aged chemically,they're not Bourbon either,more like crap.One is even named after Cleveland.Our government allows too many chemicals in our food nowadays and in the liquids we drink,but not in my Bourbon.Just because i might have a forum to ring out my tastes,i would not sell my sour to pronounce an alcoholic beverage as Bourbon ,that isn't .